Transfer materials

ABSTRACT

A redemption coupon comprising a portion removable from its original position on the coupon by means of an adhesive layer to reveal one or more indicia not previously visible.

United States Patent 91 Arnold et al.

[451 June 24, 1975 TRANSFER MATERIALS [76] Inventors: Raymond Mills Arnold; Alec Walter George Stubbings. both of 195-203 Waterloo Rd., London, England [22] Filed: May 24, 1973 [21] App]. N0.: 363,726

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data May 24. 1972 United Kingdom 24485/72 52] US. Cl 283/6; 283/6 X [51] Int. Cl 342d 15/00 [58] Field of Search 283/6, 7; 35/9 R, 9 E

{561 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2.274.488 2/1942 Kutscher 283/6 10/1963 Morgan 283/6 X 2/l970 Curzon 283/6 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 950.508 [0/1956 Germany 283/6 Primary ExaminerLawrence Charles Attorney. Agent, or Firm-Darby & Darby 57 ABSTRACT 6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJuu24 ms 3. 891. 242

F FIG. 1 F

This invention relates to transfer materials, and in particular to redemption coupons embodying a transferable portion which, on transfer from one position on the coupon, reveals information, for example a monetary value.

According to a first feature of the present invention there is provided a redemption coupon comprising a portion removable from its original position on the coupon by means of an adhesive layer to reveal one or more indicia not previously visible. The indicia so revealed may be applied by gravure, lithography or silk screen, or any suitable printing process and may be on part of the removable portion or they may underlie it.

According further to the present invention there is provided a transfer material comprising a base sheet bearing one or more indicia, a transferable opaque layer covering at least some indicia and an adhesive layer on the transferable opaque layer, or on some other part of the base sheet, or on both, the adhesive layer enabling removal of the transferable opaque layer from its original position on the carrier sheet to expose the previously hidden indicia.

The adhesive layer used may be of any convenient type, but is preferably a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. This may be of a slightly tacky type requiring high pressures in use, or it may be of the low-pressure type used for self-seal envelopes. Very tacky types are inconvenient to handle and are accordingly preferably not used. If desired, the opaque layer and the base may be formulated so that on manipulation of the base the transferable layer tends to release. This type of formulation enables the use of a low tack adhesive and is described in more detail in British Specifications Nos. 959,670 and 954,459, transfer being effected, e.g., by rubbing with a ball-point stylus. Suitable bases are, for example, polypropylene foil or polystyrene coated paper.

Specific types of product within the scope of the present invention are thus:

1. A redemption coupon, draw ticket or the like having printed information thereon, an opaque transferable portion obscuring at least some of the information, and, carried on the transferable portion, a layer of adhesive.

If desired, some other part of the coupon may be treated preferentially to receive the adhesive, thereby to enable transfer of the transferable portion by folding of the coupon, pressing the transferable portion and the preferentially treated area together, and unfolding the coupon.

2. A redemption coupon, draw ticket or the like bearing a transferable area. that side of the area facing the coupon bearing one or more indicia, the transferable area being opaque, and provided on its side remote from the coupon with adhesive.

Similarly to type 1, the adhesive may act generally or it may be selective to a pretreated area elsewhere on the carrier sheet, so that the redemption value may be revealed by folding the coupon to stick the value in the desired place and subsequently peeling the folded coupon open to reveal the redemption value.

In either system, it is of course possible to produce series of otherwise identical coupons, tickets etc. which bear different indicia hidden. The transfer of the transferable portion may thus disclose one of a variety of values, or may disclose that the holder is entitled to a prize or the like.

The following Examples will serve to illustrate the invention:

EXAMPLE 1 20 parts pans Polystyrene granules Toluene Thereafter, an image of a coin in opaque aluminiumcontaining ink (E), based on a resin system such as nitrocellulose which has no intrinsic adhesion to polystyrene is printed over the monetary value to obscure it and render that part of the coupon opaque (so the printed monetary value cannot be detected by holding the coupon up to the light). On top of the coin image is printed or coated a layer of adhesive (F).

The adhesive can be sufficiently tacky to enable transfer of the coin by physically pulling the image off the polystyrene layer; this, however, is not preferred because of the danger of accidental transfer.

A preferred system is to provide layers of non-tacky adhesive on the coin and on either some other part of the coupon (P) or on a separate sheet. Suitable materials are rubber-based adhesives of the type used for selfseal envelopes, such as Adhesive LC 1306 made by Rubber Latex Limited, Manchester. An alternate adhesive of this type is formulated:

307: pure natural rubber latex 20% borated casein parts 10 parts In this case, folding together the coin and another adhesively treated area makes the coin stick to that area, so on unfolding the coupon, the redemption value is exposed.

EXAMPLE 2 Alternatively, a system requiring exercise of a ballpoint pen over the back of the material to effect transfer could be formulated as example 1 above butusing an adhesive composition of, by weight:

pale crepe rubber l0 parts resin ester derivative l5 parts finely divided silica l parts hydrocarbon solvent 74 parts If desired, the rear of the coupon may be overprinted further to obscure the hidden value.

EXAMPLE 3 and dried and the mirror image of the right hand side of a bank note (D) which may be the same as or different from the left hand side is printed. A layer of opaque ink (E) is also printed so that the whole or part(s) of the image(s) bearing the monetary value(s) are observed. A layer of adhesive (F) is then applied over the whole of the transferable design and simultaneously or otherwise another layer of adhesive (F') is applied to another area of the paper (P) to form a receptor. The adhesive after drying should have virtually no inherent tack but be such that when the two such adhesive layers are placed face to face and a ball pen or similar applicator is rubbed on the reverse of one of the papers (P or P), a substantial bond is formed so that the image of the right hand side of the bank note is transferred to the adhesed paper, resulting in a whole bank note or two unmatching halves.

An adhesive of the type mentioned as the formula:

Cariflex TR l 101 (Shell Chemical Co. Ltd.) I

Piccotex LC (Pennsylvanian lndustrial Chemical Corpn.) 100 Toluene 240 80 Ethyl Methyl Ketone We claim:

1. A transfer material which comprises a base sheet, at least one non-transferable indicium on a surface of said base sheet, a transferable opaque layer covering at least a portion of said non-transferable indicium, an adhesive layer upon an area of said transfer material which can be juxtaposed above said transferable opaque layer, said adhesive layer being effective to remove said transferable opaque layer upon contact therewith from its original position to thereby expose said non-transferable indicium.

2. A transfer material according to claim 1 wherein the adhesive layer is a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.

3. A transfer material according to claim 1 wherein the base sheet is of polypropylene foil or polystyrene coated paper.

4. A transfer material as recited in claim 1 wherein said area carrying said adhesive layer comprises a part of said base sheet which is not covered by said transferable opaque layer.

5.A transfer material as recited in claim 1 wherein saidarea carrying said adhesive layer comprises said transferable opaque layer.

6. A transfer material as recited in claim 1 wherein said adhesive layer is carried on an upper surface of said transferable opaque layer and on a part of said base sheet which is not covered by said transferable opaque layer. 

1. A TRANSFER MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES A BASE SHEET, AT LEAST ONE NON-TRANSFERABLE INDICIUM ON A SURFACE OF SAID BASE SHEET, A TRANSFERABLE OPAQUE LAYER COVERING AT LEAST A PORTION OF SAID NON-TRANSFERABLE INDICIUM, AND ADHESIVE LAYER UPON AN AREA OF SAID TRANSFER MATERIAL WHICH CAN BE JUXTAPOSED ABOVE SAID TRANSFERABLE OPAQUE LAYER, SAID ADHESIVE LAYER BEING EFFECTIVE TO REMOVE SAID TRANSFERABLE OPAQUE LAYER UPON CONTACT THEREWITH FROM ITS ORIGINAL POSITION TO THEREBY EXPOSE SAID NONTRANSFERABLE INDICIUM.
 2. A transfer material according to claim 1 wherein the adhesive layer is a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.
 3. A transfer material according to claim 1 wherein the base sheet is of polypropylene foil or polystyrene coated paper.
 4. A transfer material as recited in claim 1 wherein said area carrying said adhesive layer comprises a part of said base sheet which is not covered by said transferable opaque layer.
 5. A transfer material as recited in claim 1 wherein said area carrying said adhesive layer comprises said transferable opaque layer.
 6. A transfer material as recited in claim 1 wherein said adhesive layer is carried on an upper surface of said transferable opaque layer and on a part of said base sheet which is not covered by said transferable opaque layer. 